An alleged unreported rape at the Home For Little Wanderers has once again elevated the concerns from local police about the ongoing handling of criminal activity reports at the school for at risk youth.

According to police, the sexual assault occurred between two overnight residents at the Longview Farm campus on Lincoln Road. This, Walpole police said, is the latest incident in a disturbing trend: Crime on the campus either unreported to police or reported long after the incident.

In this most recent instance, a 13-year-old boy allegedly snuck into a 9-year-old boy's room at about midnight on the morning of Friday, May 9 and raped him, police said. Walpole Deputy Police Chief John Carmichael said multiple sexual acts were performed against the victim's will.

According to police, Longview staffers discovered the crime around 11 a.m. and the two children involved were taken to hospital around 4 p.m. – the victim to Norwood and the alleged perpetrator to Brockton. Walpole police learned of the accusations around 11 p.m. when a social worker at Norwood Hospital called for a sexual assault evidence collection kit – 24 hours after the assault allegedly occurred.

With an enrollment of about 80 – 40 co-ed day students and an additional 40 male overnight residents – Longview Farm is a private non-profit school that caters to students ages 5-18 with emotional, behavioral, and/or learning difficulties in the custody of Department of Children and Families.

Representatives from the District Attorney's office, the DCF and the Walpole police conducted a Sexual Assault Intervention Network (SAIN) interview Friday, May 16, a full week after the alleged assault.

Walpole police said the notification delay hindered the detectives' investigation – making it impossible for them to gather physical evidence at the school.

School staffers told authorities they brought the students to hospitals to "medically clear" them without informing law enforcement, Carmichael said. He doesn't know why the alleged perpetrator was brought to the hospital.

In an interview with the Times, Carmichael questioned why the school waited so long to take the victim to the hospital; and why school cars were used when the school calls the police for Walpole ambulances for far less serious incidences on a nearly daily basis.

Like the hospital worker who contacted both DCF and police, all Longview Farm staff are "mandatory reporters" – required by law to immediately report any incidents of suspected sexual assault against a child to DCF. In addition, state law dictates that officials "may notify law enforcement."

Though Longview satisfied reporting laws by informing the state DCF of the incident at about 9 p.m., Carmichael said any of the adults at the school should have immediately contacted police after they found out about a sexual assault in the dorms. Notification from the school about the alleged rape never came, he said.

Page 2 of 3 - DCF spokeswoman Cayenne Isaksen said the word "immediately" as it pertains to the mandated reporting laws is not strictly defined.

"We trust that people do it in a timely manner and that the intention is to assure that the kids are OK," she said.

Isaksen declined to comment on any particular investigation.

Carmichael said staffers told police they informed their individual superiors up the line until management was notified. Longview Farm management, he said, told staffers not to call police about the assault.

"It's our job to protect the people of Walpole," Carmichael said about Longview students. "We don't have a whole lot of confidence that (Longview staffers) have the ability to do that."

In response to questions on Wednesday about the alleged sexual abuse, Home For Little Wanderers spokeswoman Heather MacFarlane issued the following statement: "This is an ongoing investigation, we can't provide any additional information at this time and we feel it is irresponsible for the Walpole Times to be labeling this."

MacFarlane and Brian Condron, director of external relations, refused to answer questions about the incident and reporting protocol at the Longview Farm campus or make staff available for an interview. Longview Farm then issued the following statement: "Out of respect for the dignity of the children at Longview Farm and due to this being an ongoing investigation, we are unable to provide further information at this time. As we have stated, we feel it would irresponsible for the Walpole Times to refer to any incident in any manner when you are not a part of the investigation."

"Any sexual abuse, at least in our eyes, is severe," Carmichael said, "especially when it involves two juveniles who are supposed to be under the care of the staff down there."

According to Carmichael, the investigation involves both Walpole police and the Norfolk District Attorney's office.

Norfolk District Attorney spokesman David Traub said he could not comment about an investigation involving juveniles.

Both students involved fall under parental custody of DCF.

Though police and the District Attorney's office tries to work with parents and the DCF to best address the interests of involved juveniles, Traub said ultimate autonomy to charge and prosecute for a crime falls to local law enforcement and state prosecutors.

Increase in reports

Since the start of the year, Carmichael said his department has seen an uptick in criminal activity and crimes that are reported too late or go completely unreported by school staff.

"We still, up to this point, are seeing stuff like this, which is unfortunate," Carmichael said. "It's very difficult for us to accept after all we went through."

Police said a similar sexual assault at the school went unreported in January when a Longview runaway was allegedly sexually assaulted in the woods. The mother of the child was the one to inform the police of the crime — well after the school found out about it, Carmichael said.

Page 3 of 3 - Also this year, police allegedly learned of an ongoing issue of a child exposing himself to fellow students after it had already occurred several times. Police were reportedly called the next time it happened and the child was arrested.

"Some of these significant things that are occurring that are criminal in nature should be reported," Carmichael said.

Over the weekend, officers said a Longview Farm staffer, who witnessed an assault in which a group of students allegedly jumped a classmate and punched him, told police the victim received his injuries – which required an ambulance – after being hit with a basketball.

"We're here to work with (Longview) in every possible way we can," Carmichael said. "The safety of the kids that live in that institution is absolutely paramount, as well as the people who live around there."

History

Prior to its expansion and incorporation of female day students, the Home For Little Wanderers met with Walpole Selectmen several times in 2010 following an increase in criminal reports from the Longview campus and complaints from local police over unreported incidents. A special officer liaison was appointed for the school by the department and the Home's staff pledged better communication with police.

Police reported incidents dropped initially but a drastic spike in crime at the start of this year – double the number of calls to police compared to last year – was blamed on communication issues as new Longview Farm director Yolanda Cloete told the Times in March that she was still settling into her new position after being hired in November.

"It seems like every time we've taken a step forward, we're taking two steps back," Carmichael said. "We want to be a resource for (Longview), not a hindrance."